Research findings get hearts a fluttering

Screening for
heart attacks and strokes could be improved as a result of
new research that has linked a potent antioxidant related to
a class of chemicals first discovered in the wings of
butterflies and now found in artery deposits.

The
researchers led by Dr Steven Gieseg from the University of
Canterbury's School of Biological Sciences, in collaboration
with Professor Justin Roake at Christchurch Hospital's
Department of Surgery, have demonstrated for the first time
that an antioxidant called dihydroneopterin is present in
high levels within the walls of diseased arteries. White
blood cells produce this antioxidant when activated during
an infection or inflammation.

Dihydroneopterin is a
member of the pterin family of chemicals which were
originally identified as pigments in butterfly wings. Dr
Gieseg's team has shown it stops white blood cells
converting cholesterol to its toxic oxidised form as well as
preventing oxidised cholesterol from killing cells. Dr
Gieseg says the results suggest that dihydroneopterin plays
an important role in the development of the artery deposits
that cause stroke and heart attacks.

This finding will
allow Dr Gieseg's team to now chart the location of
dihydroneopterin within the artery wall to identify changes
in the antioxidant balance. Dr Gieseg says: "Though we know
that heart disease is due to inflammation in the wall of an
artery, we do not know the timing of the processes or how
factors like blood pressure, cholesterol level or other
diseases alter the mechanism. It is through understanding
the mechanism that better treatments and screenings can be
developed."

He says the team was not surprised to find
evidence of high levels of dihydroneopterin in the arteries
as they had previously found it in what he describes as the
group's most disgusting but fascinating research to date.
The project used human pus drained from hospital patients.

"Having published this work we are now looking forward to
clearing our freezer of more than a litre of human pus
samples that were supplied by Dr Andrew Laing at
Christchurch Hospital.

"The research team is very grateful
to the many donors of biological samples and blood for the
research, and the New Zealand National Heart Foundation for
funding."

The team's findings have been published
internationally in the British Journal of Pharmacology,
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta and Clinical
Biochemistry.

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